Noel Santiago, Blooming Glen
Like the change of seasons, ministry happens at different temperatures throughout the year. However, unlike the cycle of seasons, we can’t always know what to expect at any given moment. While we can expect it to be cold in winter, there are winters that are milder than others. Even more amazing is that on any given day the temperature during the winter season could rise to 83 degrees as it did on December 6, 2001. I remember this because our youngest son was born December 3rd. We brought him home that day and took a picture of the family in front of our home with all of us in short sleeves and shorts.
While we might enjoy these breaks in the midst of cold or heat, we might also wonder what this unusually warm weather pattern means.
Ministry also runs these types of patterns and extremes. When the life of ministry runs at a spring-like temperatures of 72 degrees, life is good! Then, we experience that extraordinary moment in time where the temperature doesn’t quite line up with where it should be. It gets too hot or too cold and we wonder what’s going on.
This year Franconia Conference has experienced very good weather and some days where we all wondered, “What is going on?” There’s been a shift in the questions we have been hearing. Earlier in the year it was “what does conference do?” Now the question seems to be “where is conference going?”
In part, it seems this first question was connected to the emerging, but not yet clear, oversight pattern after the change in the Conference Minister structure. While the first signs of our new oversight platform have begun to emerge and grow with LEADership Ministers and advisors getting into place, we’ve shifted to a team-based approach to oversight that includes lay leadership. This is a significant shift in oversight work.
This summer’s biannual Mennonite Church USA convention at Columbus provided great experiences for many; but some of us experienced anxiety, pain, and frustration. There was a great diversity of thought, opinion, and belief expressed. A group advocating for inclusion of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) persons into the Mennonite Church known as “PinkMennos,” organized themselves to be a presence at the proceedings in Columbus. For the most part the week went along fine. Then something happened that people experienced in very different ways.
The resolutions started pouring in regarding membership and the inclusion of all persons regardless of sexual-orientation. Many experienced this as a mounting storm with thunder, lightening, and hail pouring out. Others experienced it as a clearing of the storm clouds with bright sunny skies being revealed. The resolutions committee decided to put both sides of these perspectives aside and create a new resolution passed by the delegate body—On following Christ and growing together as communities even in conflict.
After convention, young leaders from within our own congregations penned an Open Letter to Franconia Conference inviting signatures from persons who are part of our congregations and schools, ages 15-29, calling for continued dialogue around this topic and for more openness in our congregations. Again, some experience this as storm clouds, others as clearing skies.
All of this, no doubt coupled with other things such as the economic downturn, loss of jobs, eroding financial security, and changing relationships have created even more stress and pressure. Out of the uncertainties facing us it seems the question of where Franconia Conference is going has emerged.
Without going into many details here, let me simply say that Franconia Conference leaders will continue to follow the vision, mission and financial plan the delegate body has discerned as God’s call to us. Our primary mission will continue to be focused on: “Equipping Leaders to Empower Others to Embrace God’s Mission” in the world. This means that our primary energies, resources, personnel, and focus will remain singularly focused around this mission. While not disattending to the concerns, anxieties, pain, and frustration that are present in our midst, we believe that the primary call is to remain focused on the good work that has been started.
We are committed to and act in accordance to the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective as our theological underpinning and belief in all we do. We are committed to participating with Mennonite Church USA in the follow up of the resolutions from the Columbus gathering as well. Therefore, I offer the following for your consideration and discernment…
In any discussion surrounding this topic, we invite you to not begin with membership and who is in or out. Instead, can we enter into a conversation that is first and foremost centered around our commitment to following Christ? What does that mean for our day and age? When people are following Christ authentically and holistically, what does that look like? What are the beliefs we have in common and where do we differ? These types of questions might indeed help all of us reexamine and recommit again to the understandings that have shaped and formed us while offering a deeper possibility into the future without compromising the Gospel.
As the seasons and temperatures continue to fluctuate and change, may this season of ministry find us being healthy and growing leaders, disciples and congregations so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.
“To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.